Reactions of trimeric 1-benzyl-2-gold(I) imidazole leading to AuI carbene complexes. Crystal structure ofchlorogold(I)

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/0022-328X(93)83204-9

The crystal structure determination of a compound previously described as tris-<<μ-(N¹-benzyl)imidazolato-N³,C²>, which turned out to be a gold(I) mononuclear carbene derivative, has led to a reconsideration of the reactions of (im = μ-(N¹-benzyl)imidazolato-N³,C²) with reagents X-Y.The mononuclear or trinuclear nature of other Au imidazoyl derivatives is discussed and the compounds obtained by reaction with X-Y=Cl-COOEt, I-Et or Cl-p-tosyl and chlorobenzoyl appear to be mononuclear, whereas those obtained by reaction with MeSiI, SOCl2 or I2 appear to be trinuclear mixed valence or gold(III) compounds.